Japan’s Emperor Wants to Abdicate; May Not Be Able To

Japan’s Emperor Akihito has hinted at wanting to abdicate (the royal version of retiring, except with more money and less Florida), but it turns out he may not be able to. The Japanese constitution has no legal mechanism by which an emperor can abdicate. This isn’t some frilly quirk of history quite like our European friends, either. Remember that the previous emperor, Hirohito (see: World War II) was the Commander-in-Chief of Japan. At the conclusion of the war (the Allies won), most countries wanted to abolish the Japanese monarchy, what with it being anti-democratic and vaguely warmongery. America insisted on keeping the institution in tact because we saw the emperor as a unifying figurehead for a country we were actively occupying and in the process of writing a constitution for.

I think that was a good call. In America we combine both power and reverence in the office of the presidency, which is dangerous. In the UK a powerless figurehead gets all the pomp, and the prime minister wields authority but gets kicked around by everybody like a doughey bureaucrat. My call for coronating Kelsey Grammer as King of America doesn’t sound quite so stupid when you’re looking down the gun barrel at a Trump or Clinton presidency now, does it?

Learn More: Japan’s Emperor Wants to Abdicate; May Not Be Able To